Turnip and Yukon gold potato gratin

In my experience, most people don't get very excited about turnips. But, I'm not one of those people. In fact, I get pretty excited for all root vegetables and root vegetable season. 

Posts may contain affiliate links. If you purchase an item from these links, a small percentage goes to support the work of this blog. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Look at those lovely large pink turnips in the photo (I used much smaller ones in this dish). This time of year the food blogs are filled with recipes featuring pumpkins, other winter squash, and apples - rightfully so... but you don't see as many featuring turnips, rutabagas, beets, celeriac, parsnips, radishes, etc..

I almost start to squeal with delight when we are walking through the farmers' market and cute little white baby turnips begin to make their first appearance. I dream of the day when we have land for a garden and in my mind, my garden is almost exclusively full of root vegetables, winter squash, and herbs.

I never even had turnips until the first Thanksgiving I was dating my husband. We were going to a dinner at his aunt and uncle's and she told him that we could "bring the turnips." I was in shock. Tunips?! I had never even tasted a turnip before, let alone cooked one. 

So, I searched the internet and found a recipe for roasted turnips. After searching the grocery store for turnips, I bought some, made the recipe, and hoped for the best. Well, they were delicious and everyone enjoyed them. Now that I make Thanksgiving dinner, I almost always have a turnip side dish to try to convert more people to turnip lovers.  

This gratin is lightened up because it doesn't contain any cream - although this dish is probably still a little heavy for a Thanksgiving side dish for me.

Turnip and Yukon gold potato gratin 
1 clove of garlic
butter for greasing
3-4 small-medium Yukon gold potatoes
3-4 small-medium turnips
fresh cracked black pepper
sea salt
leaves from 6 sprigs of fresh thyme
about 4-5 oz. Gruyere cheese, finely shredded
2/3 cup low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the clove of garlic in half and rub the cut sides all over the bottom and sides of a shallow round baking dish followed by butter.

Thoroughly wash the potatoes and turnips. You can peel them if you want, but I leave the skin on. Slice the potatoes and turnips (start with 3 each) into 1/8-inch rounds using a mandolin. Beginning with the potatoes, place the rounds in overlapping concentric circles until the bottom is covered. Sprinkle with some salt, a good grind of pepper, leaves of two thyme sprigs, and a third of the Gruyere. Repeat these steps using turnips. For the third (and last) layer, arrange the potatoes for the outer circle and turnips for the center (or whichever you have left - if you don't have enough for a third layer, slice your fourth potato/turnip). Then evenly pour the broth over the top. Add the pepper, salt, thyme, and top with the remaining cheese.

Cover with foil and bake for about 15 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake until the potatoes and turnips are fork tender and the top is golden, about 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for above 5 minutes before serving.